AT40 on XM!

[The-Major]

Re: I'm Lovin' It.

This is the best XM has added or re-added in a long time. I swear I get the deja vu feeling of high school when he counts it down the way it was exactly along with the intermission music of the early 70's reminds me exactly where I was, who I knew or who I was with at the very time of that particular countdown.
You really feel grateful how radio was in those days. XM should at least do these weekends once a month.

Some 30 years ago I used to listen to Casey Kasem twice on Sundays - in the mornings on WPGC ('AM & FM Morningside') in the Washington D.C. area - and in the evenings (the same show) on WCAO AM-600 out of Baltimore. It's why I have such a passion for hit music and hit music radio today. I blame (thank) Casey for that !

THE MAJOR

 

[apco25]

I caught a part of a show at my job in Connecticut yesterday. I think the show in the early evening (ET) said "for the week ending August 14, 1982." Around 10 PM (ET), they were wrapping up a show from the latter part of 1986. "When I Think Of You" from Janet Jackson moved from #7 to #3 and "was #1 on the Dance Chart". There's one other distinct part of the show I want to hear them play. Once each hour, Casey would proclaim "American Top 40 is heard in the 50 states and around the world on great radio stations like...". That would be sweet! I've still got one or two of those on tape from winter and summer of 1988 (just before he left and Shadoe Stevens took over).

Speaking of "AT40", is the version done by Ryan Seacrest still around? Also, does that show use info from Billboard Magazine? If it doesn't, then I won't listen.

I don't think very many of these countdown shows are around. I know that AT40 with Shadoe Stevens was discontinued in or around '92. Due to the constant splintering of Top 40 the way we once knew it, the new generation Program directors were dropping the show and other countdowns if they just heard 1 or 2 currents not in their tight and tested playlist.
Casey in my opinion was smart and left Watermark productions at that time and started to market several individual countdown shows for AC, Hot AC, I think CHR out of Radio and Records. I think he may still do so today if your local market carries it which has become rarer.
I believe Ryan Seacrest or Rick Dees still do a countdown out of what publication? beats me. I hardly ever listen to terrestrial radio to even know what goes on today. With XM and Internet, it's hard to go back.

 

[The-Major]

I don't think very many of these countdown shows are around. I know that AT40 with Shadoe Stevens was discontinued in or around '92. Due to the constant splintering of Top 40 the way we once knew it, the new generation Program directors were dropping the show and other countdowns if they just heard 1 or 2 currents not in their tight and tested playlist.
Casey in my opinion was smart and left Watermark productions at that time and started to market several individual countdown shows for AC, Hot AC, I think CHR out of Radio and Records. I think he may still do so today if your local market carries it which has become rarer.
I believe Ryan Seacrest or Rick Dees still do a countdown out of what publication? beats me. I hardly ever listen to terrestrial radio to even know what goes on today. With XM and Internet, it's hard to go back.

OK here's the rundown:

"American Top 40 With Casey Kasem" - July 1970 - August 1988
"American Top 40 With Shadoe Stevens" - August 1988 - July 1994

[NOT IN OPERATION] - July 1994 - March 1998

"American Top 40 With Casey Kasem" - March 1998 - January 2004
"American Top 40 With Ryan Seacrest" - January 2004 - [CURRENT]

"Casey's Top 40 With Casey Kasem" ran for about 9 years from 1989 to 1998 (in-between his two AT-40 stints).

"Rick Dees Weekly Top 40" has been airing continuously since 1983, and it currently airs all across the U.S. as well as in over 100 other countries all around the world.

THE MAJOR

 

[apco25]

Do you know what music publications they use or where there out of ?

 

[MikeGalvRadioFan]

I have been listening to AT40 all weekend on both stations...what a great addition!!! It brings back so many memories!

 

[evilempirenyc]

I have been listening to AT40 all weekend on both stations...what a great addition!!! It brings back so many memories!

I spent alot of time listening to both...and remembering all those Sunday mornings when I would get up and listen to AT40 on WPIX-FM in NYC. Then, one of my first jobs in radio was to run AT40 off of the vinyl. I remember how tight the tracks we cued so stations could roll them thru. It sounded great!

 

[Jimbo713]

Casey currently counts down the "American Top 10" a/c show, syndicated by the Permier Radio Network. As he counts down the top 10 a/c hits over the 3 hour show, he plays standard a/c stuff with a theme. Last wee, he played goups with falcetto lead singers.

 

[HenryOchs]

WOW!!!! This is so cool!!!!! I love listening to "American Top 40" with Casey Kasem!
I listened to the marathon last weekend on both the '70s and '80s channels and I LOVED
IT!!!!!! This music brought back so many memories of my childhood and also my teen years!!!!
I even had these channels on all night!!!!!! These AT40 Countdowns are one reason why I might
never switch back to conventional radio ever agan.

Henry Ochs (a.k.a. Hammerin' Hank)
Hayward, CA

 

[CTListener]

It's being reported on the fan boards today that the show didn't air on '80s on 8 last night. Supposedly, XM got a lot of complaints (From listeners who hate Kasem? From listeners who want only the tried-and-true focus-group-tested hits?) and has decided to limit the show to one airing a week, on Sunday.

 

[apco25]

There's one other distinct part of the show I want to hear them play. Once each hour, Casey would proclaim "American Top 40 is heard in the 50 states and around the world on great radio stations like...". That would be sweet! I've still got one or two of those on tape from winter and summer of 1988 (just before he left and Shadoe Stevens took over).

That was one of my favourite parts of each hour as well. Here's a fun game to play this weekend. Listen out for those spots each hour, and see if any of those 'great radio stations' still air AT-40 today (or even exist today). I dare you to find even one station !


To answer your question...No. The last great heritage top 40 station to switch completely over to talk was WLS, 1987-88. Not including any top 40 stations like KB or KOMA that switched over to oldies.

Speaking of "AT40", is the version done by Ryan Seacrest still around? Also, does that show use info from Billboard Magazine? If it doesn't, then I won't listen.

YES - It still airs 'on great radio stations like' ... [most of the Clear Channel CHR-POP stations]. They do not use the resources of either Billboard or Radio & Records for their weekly chart.

THE MAJOR

 

[sdh483]

It's being reported on the fan boards today that the show didn't air on '80s on 8 last night. Supposedly, XM got a lot of complaints (From listeners who hate Kasem? From listeners who want only the tried-and-true focus-group-tested hits?) and has decided to limit the show to one airing a week, on Sunday.

ugh...go back to terrestrial radio then if all you want are "tired-and-treu focus-group-tested hits"

 

[shadough]

There's one other distinct part of the show I want to hear them play. Once each hour, Casey would proclaim "American Top 40 is heard in the 50 states and around the world on great radio stations like...". That would be sweet! I've still got one or two of those on tape from winter and summer of 1988 (just before he left and Shadoe Stevens took over).

Speaking of "AT40", is the version done by Ryan Seacrest still around? Also, does that show use info from Billboard Magazine? If it doesn't, then I won't listen.

I just might be interested in trading you some shows for those shows you taped in 1988. An AT40 w/ Ryan is still around.

Do you know what music publications they use or where there out of ?

Nobody uses Billboard anymore cuz of the rights fees. R&R was used for quite a while but THIS decade, pretty much every countdown show uses MediaBase. Which would include: Rick Dees Weekly Top40, AT40 w/ Ryan Seacrest, AT-10 w/ Casey Kasem & AT-20 w/ Casey Kasem (yes Casey STILL does 2 countdowns). There are good descriptions of History, etc. of these shows on both Wikipedia and answers.com

Once each hour, Casey would proclaim "American Top 40 is heard in the 50 states and around the world on great radio stations like...". That was one of my favourite parts of each hour as well. Here's a fun game to play this weekend. Listen out for those spots each hour, and see if any of those 'great radio stations' still air AT-40 today (or even exist today). I dare you to find even one station !
THE MAJOR

I can only think of 1 station. I dont know when they began airing AT40, but I know they were airing AT40 in 1985, and it would stand to reason that they were airing it prior to then as they have been a CHR station now for almost 40 years. I'm speaking of Q94 in Richmond Virginia. When Casey left AT40 they continued w/ Shadoe until Caseys Top40 came in '89....and when that ended in '98 they didnt miss a beat and continued w/ the new AT40. Today, they still run AT40, now w/ Ryan Seacrest.

 

[CHRles]

Wow! I can't believe there are other people on here that used to love the part of the show where Casey gave shoutouts to the radio stations airing AT40.
You can listen to old AT 40 shows from the 80s nonstop online via:
http://www.clearchannelmusic.com/formatlab/

Some of the CHRs that carried AT 40 in the 80s that are still CHR today include: 93 QID Alexandria, Q-94 Richmond, 101.3 KDWB Minneapolis, and a number of the CHRs from Australia that carried the show.
AT 40 was heard in a lot of tiny markets that today are without a CHR. Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 had better penetration in the bigger and medium sized markets back then.